Robert Hayden's Poem 'Those Winter Sundays'

It’s Always More than Just “Those Winter Sundays”

Those Winter Sundays, a poem written by Robert Hayden, is like no other poem that I’ve ever read before. This poem is brief and simple, yet filled with meaning and emotions that are buried underneath. When written, this poem was organized into three different sections, or stanzas; the first stanza being cinquain (five lines), the second stanza being quatrain (four lines), and the third stanza being cinquain (five lines) again, with each of these lines containing about six to nine words each. These words, though, emphasize a story being conveyed to the audience, as well as strong feelings and thoughts. This poem seems to have an even combination of aspects that make it both a lyric poem and narrative poem, as well as

When originally reading this poem, I didn’t know what was meant by “lonely offices”, and didn’t know whether or not it was implying some form of dying business or unemployment office. While we were glossing over the poem in class, we had discussed that Hayden grew up during the time of the “Roaring ‘20s”, and that finally made sense to me with my original thought. After the “Roaring ‘20s” came the Great Depression and, to me, it seems as if Those Winter Sundays takes place right at the very end of the “Roaring ‘20s”, and just at the very mere beginning of the Great Depression. To me, it seems understandable as to why the home environment that is being described is so harsh, and that’s because more work has the tendency to create hardships, especially during financial hard times when one is focused on the idea that all of the time spent working will benefit in the long run. I think it’s safe to say that everyone faces hard times at some point in their lives, and Robert Hayden really exemplified the dread, anxiousness, and fear that one faces when experiencing such a